As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
A chassis is a mechanical rack or enclosure capable of providing shared power, networking, and/or management infrastructure to a plurality of IHS components, such as server blades, input/output (I/O) modules, storage devices, etc. In some cases, IHS components may be mounted on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and/or coupled to a tray, and the inserted into a chassis using a carrier mechanism known as a drawer or sled. The carrier mechanism allows the tray and/or PCB to slide in and out of the chassis without completely removing the sled from the chassis, and without otherwise opening the chassis.
Multiple (or all) sleds in a chassis can also share the same cooling system. For example, a chassis may include fans that, in operation, move outside, ambient air from the front-end to the back-end of the chassis. Air is then expelled at a higher temperature than it comes in, after exchanging heat with the chassis internal components, therefore cooling those components.
The inventors hereof have determined, however, when a sled is drawn out from a chassis for service, for example, that “pulled out” (or sometimes “empty”) sled creates an airflow bypass channel that is detrimental to the cooling of adjacent sleds. If the service time for any given sled could be extended by reducing thermal concerns with respect to adjacent sleds, maintenance performance would improve. Accordingly, the inventors hereof have developed systems and methods for airflow management in an IHS chassis.